Show Notes
- Getting Rid of Leaves: Rake in some tips on the best ways to get rid of fallen leaves to help next year’s garden.
- Concrete Repair and Resurfacing: Learn the easy way to restore cracked and damaged concrete surfaces.
- Energy-Efficient Windows: Keep drafts out and heat in by choosing the best energy-efficient windows.
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
Plus, answers to your home improvement questions about:
- Peeling Linoleum Floor: Mindy has a peeling linoleum floor with even more layers underneath. It will take some work, but we recommend pulling it all up before installing a new floor.
- Uneven Heating and Cooling: It’s hard to regulate temperatures in a split-level home. Brent should check the registers and returns and consider adding supplemental heating.
- Crumbling Concrete: The concrete basement floor is crumbling from water damage. Mary should address any drainage issues first, then use a patching compound and epoxy floor paint.
- Retaining Wall Runoff: Water from a retaining wall is seeping into Richard’s walkout basement. He gets tips on how to intercept and redirect the water.
- Sealing Siding: Peggy’s siding is flush against a concrete slab where rainwater pools. She must remove some of the bottom siding and install flashing.
- Paint vs. Stain for a Deck: Half of Teresa’s wood deck is painted and the other half is unfinished. She can paint over stain, but she can’t stain over paint. She’ll need to choose one or have a two-tone deck.
- Glue Removal: Charlotte needs to remove glue that got on the new floor after it was installed, but she should use an adhesive remover carefully to avoid damaging the surface.
- Pet Stains on Wood Floor: Oops! The dog had an accident on the wood floor that Mike plans to refinish. Sanding should cut through the stain before he adds coats of polyurethane.
Podcast Transcript
Read Transcript
| 0:00:32 | TOM: Coast to coast and floorboards to shingles. This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:00:37 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:00:38 | TOM: Here to take on the projects that you want to get done around your house. We are here to help you do just that. So reach out to us with your questions at 1-888-Money-Pit, 888-666-3974. Or you can go to moneypit.com/ask and click the blue microphone button for the fastest possible response. Coming up on today’s show, fall is upon us, but all those leaves falling from the trees. What is the best way to get rid of them? We’re going to have the answer just ahead. Yeah, and make it one so you won’t have to do it again because that’s what happens to so many people. They fix it over and over and over again. And also ahead, when temperatures start to drop, your energy costs start to go up. So plugging drafts around Windows is a good way to reverse that trend. We’re going to highlight the best ways to make sure your windows keep the energy in and the drafts out. |
| 0:01:06 | LESLIE: Yeah, those leaves are going to be upon you to also add concrete. It may be one of the world’s most durable building materials, but there’s still times when it needs a repair to fix a crack or even to resurface the concrete that’s become damaged. So we’re going to share some tips on the easiest ways that you can make that fix. |
| 0:01:25 | TOM: Yeah, and make it one so you won’t have to do it again because that’s what happens to so many people. They fix it over and over and over again. And also ahead, when temperatures start to drop, your energy costs start to go up. So plugging drafts around windows is a good way to reverse that trend. We’re going to highlight the best ways to make sure your windows keep the energy in and the drafts out. |
| 0:01:44 | LESLIE: All right. But first, are you dreaming about a project that you’d like to tackle this fall? Well, if you can dream it, you can do it and we can help. So let us know what you are working on. |
| 0:01:55 | TOM: We can also hook you up with a great product we’re giving away to one very lucky listener. We have got from Daich Coatings the new Marble Dream Coating System. It allows you to roll on a new marble surface in just a weekend or retails for 169 bucks. It’s going to go out to one listener, John, at random, who calls us with a home improvement questions to reach out to us. Two ways to do that. Go to moneypit.com/ask. Or call us at 1-888-Money-Pit. And with that, let’s get started. Leslie, who’s first? |
| 0:02:25 | LESLIE: Mindy in Kentucky is on the line and has a flooring question. How can we help you with your project? |
| 0:02:29 | CALLER: Oh, yes. We have a really hideous linoleum in our on our kitchen floor. It’s actually been in the house since we bought it. And, of course, it’s starting to peel up and there’s actually other linoleum under it. And actually, I’m really afraid to dig any deeper to see how many levels might be on it. I was just wondering, is it worth the time and effort, you know, and possible extra cost to just take everything up? |
| 0:02:56 | TOM: Do you have a dishwasher in that kitchen? |
| 0:02:58 | CALLER: No, we do not. I’d love to have one, but I do not have one now. |
| 0:03:02 | TOM: Well, the reason I ask you is because if you don’t take up the old floor, you’d end up sort of sealing in the dishwasher and it’s hard to remove it after that. I mean, generally speaking, I’m an advocate of taking up the old flooring. |
| 0:03:12 | CALLER: Hmm. |
| 0:03:12 | TOM: Because I think it’s kind of sloppy to put new layers over the old. But I can see if it’s difficult to get it out of her budget. Reasons that you don’t want to go in that direction. But I would recommend you take it up if you can. |
| 0:03:22 | CALLER: Okay. Okay. All right. Well, I really appreciate that. Thank you very much. |
| 0:03:27 | TOM: You’re welcome. Mindy, thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:03:30 | LESLIE: Brant in West Virginia is on the line with an HVAC question. What’s going on? You guys are freezing over there. |
| 0:03:35 | CALLER: So I’ve got this two level house. It’s been cut in half and then it’s each level has been raised a half of a level. So it’s a four level house. So it’s a. |
| 0:03:46 | TOM: Split level house. Yes. Okay. And where’s the heating system located? |
| 0:03:51 | CALLER: Second floor. |
| 0:03:51 | TOM: Second floor. Okay. And it’s hot air. So there’s ducts that that supply the air to the lower levels. |
| 0:03:57 | CALLER: It’s forced air there. |
| 0:03:59 | TOM: Okay, got it. All right, so your problem is that your lower level is staying cold. And what about your upper levels? That’s does that overheat in the summer? |
| 0:04:06 | CALLER: It does. But the issue is that in the summertime, I can close the vents downstairs and I can cool the upstairs, and the downstairs stays cool because it’s underground. But the reverse does not happen in the wintertime. Right. |
| 0:04:21 | TOM: I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you that the split-level house is one of the most difficult homes to get, even heating and cooling. So one thing that you could do is add an additional well, first of all, you want to make sure that what’s there is working properly. If good airflow coming out of the registers and you have good return of the air in the room going back to the AC system. So we take a look at the return on the supplier. But I will say that probably the easiest thing to do is to add supplemental heat to cover you on the coldest days. That would probably be less expensive than running all the ductwork that you’d have to do to run to get it to work properly off just the forced air. You could put electric baseboard radiators in. There are supplements. You could even put a through the wall heat pump, which is something actually that Leslie did to bring some additional tepid temperature consistency to her lower room of her house. And I’ve got one in the room, my house that had some inconsistent issues, and it just provides additional supplemental heat to be able to even out that space, because otherwise what you burn, what you probably find yourself doing is you overheat the rest of the house when it’s really cold downstairs, you turn the heat up to try to make that downstairs warmer and then the upstairs gets it’s very hot and you’re wasting a lot of energy on that heat. So trying to get that balanced out is the right thing to do. I would tell you electric baseboards only because they’re the least expensive way to go. Even though they’re expensive to run, they’re the least expensive to install and you’re probably not going to use them, you know, 24 seven you use them selectively. So that’s a situation where I would do that and I would also make sure they’re hooked up to a central thermostat that could be operated by a clock setback mechanism. |
| 0:05:59 | CALLER: How about that? Okay, I’ll certainly give that a try. |
| 0:06:02 | TOM: All right, Frank, good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:06:06 | LESLIE: Mary in North Dakota Need some help with the concrete floor? What can we do for you? We got crumbling concrete on the basement floor. |
| 0:06:13 | CALLER: Okay. After water problems for spring. Right. |
| 0:06:17 | LESLIE: And it’s very crumbly and powdery. |
| 0:06:21 | CALLER: Mm hmm. |
| 0:06:22 | LESLIE: And there are places on it that I’d like to. |
| 0:06:26 | CALLER: Paint, if I could. |
| 0:06:27 | TOM: Do you want to try to stabilize the deterioration of the concrete? Yeah. |
| 0:06:31 | LESLIE: So I know if there’s some kind of sealant that could be sprayed or poured on it. |
| 0:06:36 | TOM: Yeah, absolutely. First of all, in terms of the water problem, is this a problem that happened after heavy rainfall? |
| 0:06:41 | CALLER: Yes. |
| 0:06:42 | TOM: All right. So if you’ve got water that comes in after a heavy rainfall, I want to make sure we try to slow this down so it doesn’t happen again. Adding some pumps, things of that nature is not going to stop this from happening again. What stops the heavy rainfall from getting in is outside looking at your gutters and your grading, making sure the downspouts are discharging away from the house. Make sure your gutters are clean, making sure soil slopes away from the house. We’ve got an extensive articles, actually several of them on moneypit.com. Just search how to stop a leaking basement is the same advice and we talk about the proper drainage improvements. So do that first. And then in terms of the concrete itself, you can use a patch and compound. QUIKRETE has a patch in compound product. You definitely want to use the patch in compound because it’s designed to stick to the old concrete. If you try to put new concrete over it, it’s not going to stick. So the ready to use patching compounds are trowel apply. They’re latex formula, so it’s easy to clean up, but that will seal the old concrete that once that’s dries then you can paint it. And what I would look for is an epoxy floor paint. The epoxy paints I like because they’re a chemical cure. When you buy the floor paint, you get the paint and a gallon can that’s about three quarters filled and then a quart of harden or you mix them together, stir them up and then you apply the paint. Sometimes there is an additive that goes in after the fact that gives you some texture to the floor, helps kind of hide the dirt, but patching it first than adding in the poxy paint will have that looking like new in no time. |
| 0:08:15 | CALLER: Okay so but the name of the sealant was called what? |
| 0:08:16 | TOM: QUIKRETE. It’s QUIKRETE concrete patching compound. Good stuff. Mary thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:08:26 | LESLIE: Hey, you’re tired of living in a money pit. Well, we’re here to help. And if you want us to help out, it would be awesome if you could leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts. Just go to Money Pit dot com slash review. It’s only going to take a minute and it means the world to us. |
| 0:08:40 | TOM: Whether you’re working inside or out, if you’ve got questions on how to get those projects done, reach out to us at 1-888-Money-Pit. If you do, we will toss your name in the Money Pit hard hat because we’ve got to give away. Today from Daich Coatings, the new Marble Dream Resurfacing Kit, it lets you create real marble being surfaces in just a few simple steps with no special skills needed. And you’ll have a tough, resilient marble surface with those very distinct, defined veins, or one with soft, swirling veins. You decide, Just roll on your colorful new marble dream finish that gets available for $169 at this coatings icon. But we’ve got one to give away to one list drawn at random who reaches us with a home improvement question. So make that you head on over to moneypit.com/ask. |
| 0:09:26 | LESLIE: All right, now we’ve got Richard in Illinois on the line who’s getting some water through the foundation. Tell us what’s going on. |
| 0:09:31 | CALLER: What it is over time, I’ve got a ranch house where they walk out basement and on the walk out. When you come out, there is a retaining wall that is about eight foot tall where it meets the house. It hasn’t really separated from the house, but there is water that gets in between the retaining wall and the foundation, and then it gathers right at the bottom on a heavy rain and then seeps back into the basement. So trying to figure out the previous owner that had this house has put something in there like a caulking or some type that has gotten hard over time and it’s not slowing it down too much. |
| 0:10:11 | TOM: So this is a gravity situation. So let’s give you a gravity solution. Let’s have the drainage work with you and not against you. And by the way, you can seal this so the cows come home and it’s still going to find its way in. What you have to do is stop the water from accumulating. So on the opposite side of this retaining wall, I’m guessing that there’s some runoff that goes towards the wall. |
| 0:10:31 | CALLER: Yes, there is. |
| 0:10:31 | TOM: So what you’re going to want to do is intercept that runoff so we don’t get as much water that collects in that area. Well, we’re going to try to do is limit the amount of water that gets in that area to just direct rainfall with no runoff. That means no gutter discharge, no runoff from higher elevations. So the way we do that is first of all, examine the gutter situation and make sure there’s no water dropping at the high side of this where it could work its way down if there is, you’ve got to run a pipe underground to get it to a place where it’s not going to interfere with leakage into the basement. Secondly, in terms of intercepting the runoff, what you could do is install something called a curtain drain. Richard. It’s really it’s a rather simple drain that you might construct yourself. You dig a trench that’s about 12 inches deep and 12 inches wide. You put some stone in that trench, then you put a perforated pipe on top of the stone, surrounded with more stone, lay a piece of filter cloth across the top and cover it with soil. So it’s all done. It’s invisible in the end of that drain that you just installed should exit the daylight somewhere. So you need to figure out the best way to do that based on the configuration of your yard. What that will do is it’ll intercept the water that’s coming down from higher elevations, the fall into that trench, come up into the pipe and then run around the house as opposed to collecting in that particular corner. If we can keep the water from collecting in that area, you will probably be just fine because it’s rare that just direct rainfall accumulates enough water to actually leak in the house. It’s almost always the runoff from gutters and from drainage. Right. |
| 0:11:57 | CALLER: Well, and needless to say, I’ll probably have to do some get rid of some landscaping because there’s got some little green bushes there along that wall as well. So, yeah. |
| 0:12:07 | TOM: And that’s a good point because sometimes you can make the problem worse by having landscaping that traps water. So just think in terms of water control here, not in terms of trying to seal that water out. I think you’ll be in good shape. Richard, thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:12:20 | LESLIE: Well, fall is upon us. And with all those leaves fallen from the trees, have you ever noticed that many people like to burn the leaves while burning them is not necessarily the best idea, guys, because flames can easily spread. Plus, you’re giving up the nutrients that may have helped to feed your yard. Now, a much safer option is to toss those leaves into a compost bin and then you can nurture the flowers and vegetable gardens come springtime. If you’ve got a lawn mower and it’s suited for mulching, you can actually run it over the leaves as well. And those chopped up pieces will help feed the grass as it remains dormant through the winter months. So those leaves really can be helpful if you’ve got a way to process them. |
| 0:12:58 | TOM: Absolutely. Now, of course, if your town offers leaf pick up, you might be able to just rake them to the curb. But here’s a trick for that. What I do is I like to lay out a tarp on the grass, like look at maybe a 10-by-10 blue tarp. And then I rake the leaves onto the tarp in a big old pile, basically as big a pile as I can get the leaves to stay on there without falling off. And I drag the tarp to the curb and then dump the leaves. It makes the job go a lot faster If you’re trying to do it one wheelbarrow at a time. It takes a long time. But with the tarp, not so much. |
| 0:13:30 | LESLIE: Peggy in Louisiana is on the line with a concrete question What can we do for you today? |
| CALLER: Well, we have a slab, concrete bottom, and it’s built up with the board skeletons and it’s covered with vinyl siding. And being in Louisiana it rains a lot and the rain comes on the porch where it’s eating the inside walls, which is wooden on the bottom. And I want to know how I can feel the outside vinyl siding to concrete slab to keep the water from coming in. | |
| 0:14:07 | TOM: So what’s happening is that your concrete slab is in contact with the bottom of the vinyl siding, is that correct? Yes. And right under that siding, is that a wood, a wood wall all the way down to the bottom where that slab is, Because typically you’d have about six inches of foundation before you started the siding. At a minimum. And then the vinyl siding would start. So if your vinyl siding is going down, flushed the slab, it’s going to be almost impossible for you to seal it in any way, shape or form from the outside and stop that from happening. Your only chance would be to take the siding off and then to install some flexible flashing. There’s different types of flashing that you can use. There are rubberized flashbangs that are very good because you can basically form them wherever you need to get that entire area as tight as you possibly can and then put the siding back on. On top of that siding itself, especially vinyl siding. You know, if you were to caulk that or anything of that nature, it’s not really designed to seal in that way. So I feel like you’re just going to be kind of running yourself in circles there. And while it could stop to some extent or slow down, at least temporarily, that leakage that you’re reporting, the only way to really fix that and to get to the bottom of it is to pull that siding off and to flash it. And the only when we’re talking about the bottom of the siding, you’re not seeing all the siding in the house, but the bottom couple of pieces would have to come off to do this job. |
| CALLER: Okay. Thank you very much.
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| TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. | |
| 0:15:30 | LESLIE: All right. Now we’ve got Teresa on the line who wants to change her deck from paint to stain. What’s going on at your Money Pit? |
| 0:15:36 | CALLER: We have a deck. We have replaced half of the deck with, what do you call, pretreated lumber? |
| 0:15:44 | TOM: Yep, treated lumber, okay. |
| 0:15:45 | CALLER: And I really don’t know what to do because half a deck is now, you know, replaced and the other half is still painted with paint, not stain. |
| 0:15:56 | TOM: Are you planning on replacing the painted lumber as well, or not? |
| 0:16:00 | CALLER: Well, I was actually going to use some type of solid stain because I think that they came out with some new stuff now and maybe I would use it over all of the deck. |
| 0:16:10 | TOM: Yeah. The thing is, since it’s been painted, you’re really going to have to get that old paint off and you can’t stain over paint because there’s nothing for the stain to soak into unless it’s so worn that it’s exposed sort of the pores of the wood. But you’re talking about a solid color stain and has a lot of pigment and it kind of looks like paint just doesn’t have the glaze to it, but it gives it a lot of protection. And since the pressure treated side is brand new, I would tell you to probably wait until next spring to tackle that because the first year there’s a lot of chemicals in there, fresh treated lumber. We like to evaporate out a bit first. |
| 0:16:43 | CALLER: Oh, okay. Because I had heard a couple of different things. I was a good how ready to go now. And you think that that part see part of this the deck is actually covered so you think I need to strip that off of there? |
| 0:16:56 | TOM: I’d be concerned because I don’t think the stain is going to is going to stick on top of the paint. I mean, the idea of stains, it soaks into the wood. You can paint over stain, but you can’t stain over paint. |
| 0:17:04 | CALLER: Okay. Okay. So what products are out there that would maybe paint? |
| 0:17:09 | TOM: I mean, like I said, paint would work for all of it. But then the beginning, the painting, the rest, the rest of the deck, unless you just wanted to have it be sort of a two, two tone or at least one, you know, one is painted and one is stained, you’re going to see a difference between the two, but maybe you can figure out a way to make that work from a decor perspective. |
| 0:17:26 | CALLER: Well, thank you so, so much. I’ll do that. |
| 0:17:29 | TOM: Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:17:33 | LESLIE: Well, concrete is one of the world’s most durable building material, but even though it’s tough, there are still times when it needs a repair to fix a crack or even to resurface concrete that’s become damaged. QUIKRETE makes a wide variety of concrete repair products that can help. With us to talk about how to choose the right fix for your broken mourner, cracked concrete surfaces is Ted Woods. |
| 0:17:56 | TOM: You know, Ted, we often hear from listeners who have to repair concrete, but they do so by patching over the old surface with new concrete, which of course, falls off fairly quickly, leaving them kind of right back where they started. It seems everyone makes the same mistake and it really has all to do with adhesion, getting that that repair product to stick to the old concrete, Right? |
| 0:18:19 | TED WOODS: Yeah, That’s a common mistake that people make when they’re doing those repairs. They think that you can just mix up a regular little mix of a concrete mix and put it right on top. But there’s much more to it. Go to repair areas. We’ve got all the products to handle that. Usually what they’re missing is some sort of bonding agent to make that mix stick to the existing slab. And fortunately, a lot of our products, we try to incorporate that into it now so that they don’t have to add it. You just get the right mix. If it says polymer modified or advanced polymer design or formula, that generally will tell you that it has the ingredients in there. Once you mix that up or apply it, it’s going to stick to that concrete. |
| 0:18:55 | LESLIE: Now, what about just general repair items? I mean, a lot of people are just looking to extend the life of the concrete they’ve already got without totally replacing things. |
| 0:19:03 | TED: Yeah. What’s great is, you know, concrete’s, durable, it’ll last for a long time, but it starts to look a little dingy and maybe get a crack or two in it. If it’s strong and still in there in great shape, you don’t have to tear down and replace it. You can repair it or recover it and make it look new and get many more years out of it. We’ve got what we call the Re-Cap Resurfacer, which is a great product to get that old concrete looking new again. I kind of compare it to take in an old car that runs good, what’s going to dance and dings in it? So you going to fix up that outside those dents and repainting and getting the brand new? That’s what we do with the Re-cap Resurfacer. We fix up that old existing concrete slab, get it cleaned off real well, and then we apply that to it. Just a little thin layer on top and it looks brand new. It’s great. |
| 0:19:47 | TOM: I use that Re-Cap product on it on a fairly big floor that was very uneven and I was really impressed with it because when we were done it looked just like a brand new concrete slab, even though we had just essentially put a very thin layer of the recap over it. But it’s been super durable and it looks great. We’ve got it all painted up now. It looks fantastic. So that’s a pretty impressive product. And I remember when you guys were developing that at some of the trade shows. I remember seeing a test that you did where you tried to separate the recap after it was dry, of course, from the concrete below. And that stuff was so strongly bonded that you end up pulling up rocks with it from the original concrete, which is pretty amazing. |
| 0:20:26 | TED: Yeah, that’s our goal, was to make that adhere as strong as possible. And when you do the pull test on that, we’ve had them go up as high, like 400 pounds of pressure to pull that apart. And that’s where you’ve seen that pull, that existing concrete slab off there. So yeah, it’s great. Now one thing though, you ought to have that type of adhesion. They got to make sure they got the surface prepped. Right. And we’ve seen people say maybe a driveway that they’re going to resurface and the car has been parked there and maybe once in a while they get a drip of oil down there. You know, that’s what causes those not to stick in the long term. So when people are doing their prep work, they really need to make sure they’re clean in that following the directions on it by taking the power washer out there and hitting those areas. One great test I’ve seen for that and there’s it takes us your water and spray it down there. And if the water soaks into the concrete, hey, that’s a good sign that you’ve got it clean and it’s ready. But if you see it beat up like it does on a car when there’s wax, that’s a good indication there’s something still on the concrete there that’s going to probably cause a problem down the road. Need to go back and re clean that area or re scrub it. So that’s usually a good tip for those homeowners they’re doing this first time. It’s saved a lot of people time and effort going back and doing something again. |
| 0:21:34 | LESLIE: And you do have to allow some drying time again after you do that, right? |
| 0:21:37 | TED: Oh, yeah, you do that little dry set up. Then when you get ready to put your recap on, you do want to do a light little water on there as well because that helps it here. If it’s a dry surface and you go to start spreading that the moisture gets sucked out of it from the concrete slab your covering, it starts setting up too quick. So you do want to do a little mist over everything and then start taking your squeegee and pushing it around. |
| 0:21:57 | TOM: We’re talking to Ted Woods. He is a concrete repair expert with QUIKRETE. He said, I want to ask you about the self-leveling sealant products because we get questions from folks that have concrete driveways or walkways, and the expansion joints have failed years back. And so they have these big gaps and they want to reseal them so that we don’t have water going in there and weeds getting in there as well. |
| 0:22:19 | TOM: Is that a good application for a self-leveling sealant that’s going to sort of find its own level in perhaps a wider gap? |
| 0:22:27 | TED: Yep. That’s the one out of our advanced polymer formulas. We’ve got the one for the, the, the joints like that to come in there and fill that back in. So once it does crack and that’s where we do want it to crack in those stress joints that we put in there. But we do not want the water getting under there. And what’s great as you are, you apply that to your crack. And as a rule, you generally don’t want to go any larger than one inch wide on those cracks or a half inch deep with the advanced polymers. So a lot of people will use that backer rod, the foam rod you can buy, they’ll tuck that down into the crack with a putty knife or a screwdriver or whatever you’ve got there. And then so you’re only filling up that last half inch. We find it performs better when it’s like that versus dripping all the way down into a four inch slab. So then what happens with that polymer formula? It sticks to the sides. Here is great. There gives you a watertight bond, but yet it’s still flexible enough. That pad moves a little bit. It’ll still hold and flex with it. So you’ll have a long lasting repair. |
| 0:23:24 | TOM: And that really is the key, because if you let water get into those spaces, you know, that’s where you get the trouble, right? You get the frost and the even the cracking, you know, especially with slabs or steps. That’s why it’s important to have those gaps in those cracks repaired fairly quickly so that you prevent that from happening. Because many times I spent 20 years as a home inspector and you can see where you have a step. For example, it’s got a crack in it. And, you know, it didn’t look like that when it first happened, but the water going in there winter after winter and expanding, you know, more and more and more, that’s what causes the problem and makes these really simple repairs very, very expensive. So getting those cracks quick really makes a lot of sense. |
| 0:24:01 | TED: Yeah, I agree 100% that water is the enemy in there. And especially if you’re in an environment where you can have hard freeze thaw cycles, it’s going to move it and it’ll keep that crack growing. And people are amazed if they have to tear something down. They see how much erosion taking place underneath their slab or their steps. So but if they got after it right away and fell, that crack the first time they’ve seen it starting to appear, they probably could extend the life greatly on that. |
| 0:24:24 | TOM: We’re talking to Ted Woods from QUIKRETE. Ted, thank you so much for stopping by. The money Pit. If folks have questions about your products or really how to do to repair, what’s the best way to get in touch> |
| 0:24:34 | CALLER: Go to quikcrete.com. And we have a live chat that’s available. As soon as you go to that site, they’ll pop up on your screen. So if you’re working on a project or got a repair question, type it in there and people from our technical lab will answer your question right then and there and get you on your way. |
| 0:24:54 | LESLIE: Here’s a great reason to reach out to Team Money Pit. I mean, we’re going to help you with your projects, but we love to give away prizes as well. And we’ve got a good one to help making the inside of your house more lovely for the upcoming holiday season. We’ve got the Marble Dream Resurfacing Kit by Daich Coatings. Now this is a fantastic kit that is super easy to do. It’s a roll on marble resurfacing kit. You can get four different color choices. You can use it on countertops, vanities, tabletop. So if a new bathroom or new kitchen just is not in the cards this year and that’s something you’re dreaming of, this is a great way for you to achieve that. It’s a kit, so you’ve got everything you need there. The kit itself sells for $169, but it’s going to one lucky listener for free. |
| 0:25:36 | TOM: Reach out right now for your chance to win that marble surface refinishing kit from Daich Coatings. The number here is 1-888-Money-Pit or go to moneypit.com/ask. |
| 0:25:47 | LESLIE: Charlotte and Georgia need some help making some glue go away. What happened? |
| 0:25:54 | CALLER: Hey I had a new linoleum laid and the glue that I used to glue the floor down with, a lot of it got on my floor. And I’ve been using and that scraped it off. But I didn’t really want to hurt the linoleum. And I was just wondering if there’s any kind of product that I can use to get that glue up. |
| 0:26:08 | TOM: Wow, that’s tricky because I would be concerned. I mean, there are flooring adhesive removers specifically designed for that type of adhesive, but I would be concerned about its impact on the floor. So I would tell you to search for a flooring adhesive remover and then I would tell you to use it very carefully and watch for any color changes in the flooring. Perhaps even if you have an extra a scrap piece of that vinyl, that would be perfect. You can try it out on that. But we want to make sure that it doesn’t damage the vinyl in any way, shape or form. I think it’s all right, Charlie, good luck. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money-Pit. |
| 0:26:40 | LESLIE: Well, if you’re thinking about buying new windows, you might be overwhelmed at the choices that are out there. So here’s a tip. Read the label specifically. There are a few numbers on that label that can help you find the most energy efficient window for your home. So first of all, you want to consider the u-value. Now that measures a Windows ability to insulate, then you want to consider the amount of solar energy a window transmits, which is often called the solar heat gain coefficient or SHGC. Just remember that the lower the u-value and SHGC, the more efficient the window. It’s like a golf score. You want the lower number. |
| 0:27:19 | TOM: Now you can also order different glazing options for windows based on the side of the house that they will be installed on. So for example, get the lowest u- value windows you can afford on the north facing windows since that’s the coldest side of the house. And also look for windows with double panes, low e coatings, low conductivity, gas fill between the patterns and then wood, vinyl or fiberglass frames. And if you can’t remember all this, just remember this one thing. There’s a label on most windows today. It’s the NFRC label and it’s going to be the same label on all windows. It stands for the National Fenestration Rating Council and they have all those other ratings as part of this listed in a way that you can easily compare. So if you look at on a window, you see the and the NFRC rating, take a picture of that rating, take a picture that label, then go look at other windows. Later, you’ll know what the first set was and you can compare the second set and so on and make the best possible choice for your house. |
| 0:28:11 | LESLIE: Macon, Georgia, is on the line with a question about flooring. What’s going on your Money Pit? |
| 0:28:15 | CALLER: Well, Leslie Well, I’ll tell you what, I got a problem. We had pulled the carpet in the hallway is kind of L-shaped. Well, all hound out can only get urinated or up at one spot short of pulling up flooring and replaced all that. What can we do? |
| 0:28:29 | TOM: So do you want to refinish the floor? And are we talking about hardwood floors here, Mike? |
| 0:28:33 | CALLER: Well, this is going to blond finished, more or less translucent. |
| 0:28:37 | TOM: Well, I mean, I think if you’re going to refinish the floors and you sand those floors, you’ll be able to get through that surface staining and you won’t have too much residual. I mean, it’s way we’re way past talking about how to clean it. But what happens is you get acid in there from the pets and that can change the color. But it’s been my experience that a traditional floor standing will cut through that without too much difficulty. So if you’re thinking about refinishing the floors, what I generally recommend is even if you want to do some of this yourself, is to have a professional do the sanding. Because unless you use a floor sander as part of your day to day job, it’s kind of a hard tool to handle. I mean, I grew up with tools my entire life. I wouldn’t do my own floor sanding. I’d hire a pro for it, so I didn’t ruin my floors. If you sneeze while you’re using that, you know, you’ll dig out of it. And then you could put two or three coats of good quality polyurethane on top of that. But I think a sanding will make that go away. |
| 0:29:33 | CALLER: All right. Well, I appreciate your advice. |
| 0:29:36 | TOM: Good luck. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-Money Pit. |
| 0:29:40 | LESLIE: Laurie wrote in and she’s doing a deck makeover with composite decking and says we’re replacing her deck boards with composite and utilizing the old Joyce. But we have many nail holes in them. What is the best and least expensive method of covering or sealing the nail holes to prevent water from getting inside? Is she talking about nail holes in the joists? Are now holes in the new boards? |
| 0:30:02 | TOM: No, I think she’s talking about nail holes in the Joyce. I had this exact issue. I did a couple of decks recently where we took off the old decking, but we used the old the original floor joists to support the new composite. And so when you pull up the old decking course, those tops of those, Joyce, are filled with lots of nails and that actually can lead to rot. So the thing to do is to apply a product called flashing tape. It’s widely available now. It’s self-adhesive kind of like peel and stick, and then it protects those tops areas of the joist. It comes either like single joist wide like, say, an inch and three quarters to about like three and a half for a double joist and it seals the top of the joist. Then you lay the composite on top of that. So not only does it seal off those old holes, but when you drive new screws in the hole, the composite in it forms a seal around them as well. So that’s all you need here. Laurie, you did pick up some flashing tape and steel, those tops of those joist before you put the composite decking back on. |
| 0:30:57 | LESLIE: And believe me, Laurie, when Tom says he’s been doing some decking projects lately, he’s been doing like a ton of decking projects. So definitely take his advice. A lot. Let’s be honest. |
| 0:31:08 | TOM: Some, you know. Well, if you’re an animal lover, can you also have stylish decor that can coexist with you and your pets? Well, Leslie says you can and has tips on how to do just that in today’s edition of Leslie’s Last Word. Leslie. |
| 0:31:25 | LESLIE: Well, if you’ve got pets, you definitely do not have to sacrifice the home decor that you want. You know, durable, easy to clean paints, anti-microbial stain resistant rugs and more. All of that does mean that you can have a beautiful home and a furry pet. It doesn’t mean that they’re incompatible any more. You can have all of these things together. I mean, my sister and her husband have the most amazingly beautiful, designed house, and they have about six cats at any given time with all these rescues that they do. So there are ways that you can have all of these things together. So first of all, think about paints. There’s a lot of painting companies out there that now have flat paints that are white label and that used to be only offered with a glossy paint, which really is not attractive for a wall surface. So now you can have a beautiful paint that looks rich and deep and lovely in a room but still be able to clean it. Now, fabrics you can find stain resistant and anti-microbial fibers in a range of styles and soft textures. Look for textiles that have nanotech, and that means that those fibers are going to be stain resistant and waterproof to things you definitely need when you’ve got a pet at home. And it really might be a luxury to devote a single room. Or maybe if you have a large enough mud room that kind of creates a pet bedroom or a pet hangout zone. But a lot of people do have some space for this. And it’s definitely become more common. I mean, even if you find that the space does double duty as your home office or the laundry room, you can create a secure area for a pet by keeping their food, their bed, the familiar toys that they love all in this one spot. So there’s a lot of things that you can do to make sure that that pet is comfy and happy in your home, but you also get the things that you choose and that you love and that you want in your design space. So don’t be afraid to ask questions about super durable fabrics, wall coverings, fabrics, fur window treatments, upholstery, fabrics, carpets, all of it because you can have it, you can have pets. And then with the right cleaners, when those accidents do happen, you can definitely make that go away. |
| 0:33:25 | TOM: This is the Money Pit Home Improvement Show coming up next time on the program, are you in the market for new furniture but don’t have a big budget to buy? New. Well, if so, upcycling might be for you. We’re going to have tips to help you get started, including tips on what makes the best furniture choices for an upcycle. On the very next edition of the Money Pit. I’m Tom Kraeutler. |
| 0:33:46 | LESLIE: And I’m Leslie Segrete. |
| 0:33:47 | TOM: Remember, you can do it yourself. |
| 0:33:49 | LESLIE: But you don’t have to do it alone. |
| (Note: The above referenced transcript is AI-Generated, Unedited and Unproofed and as such may not accurately reflect the recorded audio. Copyright 2023 Squeaky Door Productions, Inc. No portion of this transcript or audio file may be reproduced in any format without the express written permission of Squeaky Door Productions, Inc.) |
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